Portable recording media (or removable memory media) have become a popular recording device for recording or storing document data, image data or the like. Such recording media (or removable memory medium) include smart medium, DVD (digital versatile disk), CD-R (compact disc recordable), CD-RW (compact disc rewritable), compact flash (registered trademark), multi-media card (MMC), SD (secure digital) card, and memory stick, for example. Further, such recording media can be connected to a medium interface unit of an image processing apparatus placed in public locations such as convenience stores, by which image data stored in such recording media can be read and printed.
Such image processing apparatus may have a protection cover for the medium interface unit to prevent dropping-out or removal of a recording medium from the image processing apparatus during data transmission between the recording medium and image processing apparatus.
For example, an image processing apparatus may have a connection port and a protection cover, in which a recording medium, storing image data captured by an image capturing apparatus (e.g., digital camera), is inserted in the connection port for data transmission. Such image processing apparatuses include a digitally-controlled apparatus having a copy function, a facsimile function, a print function, and a scan function, for example.
Such image processing apparatus may also have a memory medium reader or a memory medium writer having a connector, to which the above-mentioned portable recording medium can be connected.
The image processing apparatus can read information stored in the portable recording medium with the memory medium reader, and can print out an image of such read information, or the image processing apparatus can store document data, scanned by scanning function, to the portable recording medium by using a memory medium writer, for example.
In such image forming apparatus, a user can remove such portable recording medium from the connector of the memory medium reader or the memory medium writer by hand, for example. However, if the portable recording medium is removed from the connector during data processing such as data reading or data writing by accident or mistake, the data might be damaged or OS (operating system) trouble might occur.
As described above, a protection cover may be provided to a medium interface unit to prevent accidental removal of the recording medium or to keep the recording medium from falling out of the apparatus. However, if such cover is opened by mistake or for some other reason, the recording medium can be easily removed from the connector during data processing, which is undesirable.